Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Hospitals

Lord Clark of Windermere: To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS Nightingale Hospitals were started and how many completed during the response to COVID-19.

Lord Clark of Windermere: To ask His Majesty's Government how many patients have been treated in NHS Nightingale Hospitals.

Lord Clark of Windermere: To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS Nightingale Hospitals established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been decommissioned, and when.

Lord Markham: Seven temporary Nightingale hospitals were established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and these were decommissioned during 2021. Validated data on the total number of patients treated in Nightingale hospitals is not available centrally.

Electronic Cigarettes: Young People

Earl Russell: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reported increase in vaping and vaping-related health conditions among young people.

Lord Markham: Recent NHS Digital data suggests there has been an increase in young people aged 19 years old and under with a finished admission episode with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a vaping disorder. There were 40 reported cases in 2022/23, seven more than in 2021/22.The Government is taking a number of steps to prevent the circulation of illegal vaping products. In April 2023, we announced £3 million of funding to support a new illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales and the illicit market. National Trading Standards have now begun setting up the operation, gathering intelligence, training staff and bolstering capacity and will begin field work later this year.

Radiotherapy: Waiting Lists

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government how manycancer patients received radiotherapy treatment within the 62-day referral to treatment target; and what steps they are taking to reduce waiting times for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and are waiting for treatment.

Lord Markham: Between May 2022 and April 2023, 9,333 patients received radiotherapy treatment on the Urgent Suspected Cancer pathway, of which 2,402 were treated within 62 days.The Government worked with NHS England to publish the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care in February 2022. The Government also plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.This will further be supported by the additional £3.3 billion of funding in each of the next two years announced at the Autumn Statement to support the National Health Service, enabling rapid action to improve emergency, elective and primary care performance towards pre-pandemic levels.NHS England’s recent letter ‘Elective care 2023/24 Priorities’ set out the progress to date in reducing the number of patients with urgent suspected cancer waiting longer than 62 days and meeting the faster diagnosis standard for the first time in February. It also confirmed the ongoing priorities to make further progress to improve performance and long waits, prioritise diagnostic capacity and focus on cancer pathway redesign.

Integrated Care Boards

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with NHS England regarding the creation of regional Joint Committees between NHS England and the various Integrated Care Boards in England; and when theregional Joint Committees between NHS England and the various Integrated Care Boards in England will be established.

Lord Markham: NHS England published a roadmap in May 2022 setting the direction of travel for greater integration of specialised services with Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissioned services to better join up patient pathways. The roadmap is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/PAR1440-specialised-commissioning-roadmap-addendum-may-2022.pdfAn analysis of the entire specialised services portfolio was undertaken to determine which services are both suitable and ready for greater ICB leadership. Following an assessment of ICB system readiness at the end of 2022 using a pre-delegation assessment framework, nine statutory joint committees between NHS England and multi-ICB collaborations were established on 1 April 2023 taking on joint responsibility for commissioning decisions on 59 specialised services.

Incontinence: Products

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 27 June (HL8439),what is the (1) product category, (2) scope, (3) timing, (4) methodology, and (5) assessment criteria, adopted for each of the two value-based procurement projects for absorbent continence products to which the answer refers; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which the Rothwell Scale measures the effectiveness and suitability of absorbent continence products, in addition to absorbency.

Lord Markham: For the value-based procurement projects for absorbent continence products the proposed product category is disposable continence containment products. The scope is any patients/users who are receiving continence care from the NHS, at home, in care homes or residential homes and acute wards. Once the pilot site has been identified it is estimated to be six to eight weeks for completion. The methodology looks at baseline data of current impact of care pathway delivered in practice, review of information, clinical changes based on baseline, a review of impact of changes and a sign of savings before scaling across a trust. The assessment criteria will be confirmed with the pilot site.The Rothwell scale is an industry standard to measure the working absorbency of disposable continence products, enabling transparency and comparability of products fluid management. Subjective quality metrics like ease of use and comfort, will be user dependent. Objective elements that contribute to subjective elements such as comfort are included. For example, specifications include elasticated flexible sides, guard channels to reduce leakage, super absorbent polymers to remove fluid from skin contact. When a trust selects a supplier, the trust will evaluate potential suppliers on the framework, evaluating the subjective, qualitative features of ease of use, comfort, comparative reduction in leakages, quality of life and health outcomes.

Radiotherapy

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to ensure that all patients needing radiotherapy treatment have access to a treatment centre within the recommended 45-minute travel time.

Lord Markham: There is no limit on the distance that would be required for someone to receive cancer treatment. Specialised services are not available in every local hospital because they need to be delivered by specialist teams of health professionals who have the necessary skills, experience and access to equipment and medicines.Patient-specific requirements are based on what each individual could manage and cope with and would be discussed between the patient and clinician.Patients travelling for cancer treatment via NHS Patient Transport Services (PTS) are exempt from any eligibility checks (both on medical and mobility grounds) and are automatically deemed PTS "eligible" for both the inbound and outbound journeys as frequently as these are required, which has been the case for some years now.

Electronic Cigarettes: Young People

Earl Russell: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to prevent the circulation of illegal vaping products particularly among young people.

Lord Markham: Recent NHS Digital data suggests there has been an increase in young people aged 19 years old and under with a finished admission episode with a primary or secondary diagnosis of a vaping disorder. There were 40 reported cases in 2022/23, seven more than in 2021/22.The Government is taking a number of steps to prevent the circulation of illegal vaping products. In April 2023, we announced £3 million of funding to support a new illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales and the illicit market. National Trading Standards have now begun setting up the operation, gathering intelligence, training staff and bolstering capacity and will begin field work later this year.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Israel: Palestinians

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government whatrepresentations they have made, if any, to the government of Israel in support of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call on that government to immediately cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK's position on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is clear. They are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution. As the Foreign Secretary said in his 30 June statement, alongside his Canadian and Australian counterparts, the continued expansion of settlements is an obstacle to peace and negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution.

South Sudan: Peace Negotiations

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made by international agencies which the UK supportswith conflict resolution in Abyei, on the South Sudan border.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK Government is engaged with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and welcomed the UNISFA mandate being renewed for 12 months by the UN Security Council in November. The UK raised our stance on ongoing intercommunal violence in Abyei at the UN Security Council on 9 May, and called on the Government of South Sudan to remove its forces from Abyei without delay. It is essential that UNISFA is able to fulfil its mandate to protect civilians, and support law and order, local peacebuilding and community dialogues.

South Sudan: Humanitarian Aid

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to re-assess the UK’s contribution to humanitarian programmes in South Sudan in the light of the civil war; and whether they intend to make up any shortfall.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK is still a leading donor in South Sudan and remains committed to protecting the most vulnerable South Sudanese people through interventions such as emergency food aid and daily water and sanitation provision. For this financial year, the Minister for Development and Africa announced £143 million in humanitarian aid for East Africa, including £18.9 million for South Sudan. The UK Government also funds education, health and peacebuilding programmes that help build resilience in South Sudan, and funds the placement of technical experts in both the ceasefire and peace agreement implementation monitoring mechanisms which are crucial for securing a peaceful transition to democracy in South Sudan.

Uganda: Terrorism

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the comments by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 21 June (HL Deb col 253–255), whether they have any further information concerning the attack on the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Secondary School in Uganda on 16 June; and what discussions they have had with international partners about providing assistance to the Ugandan authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK condemns the 16 June attack on Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, Uganda. The Minister for Development and the British High Commissioner both issued a tweet on 17 June sending their condolences to those affected. As of 20 June, there were 42 deaths of which 37 were students. There are five to seven individuals believed to be abducted. The Ugandan security services continue their efforts to track down the perpetrators. The British High Commission in Kampala remains in close contact with the Ugandan authorities and no requests for assistance have been made. Those responsible must be brought to justice.

Treasury

Crown Lands and Estates

Lord Berkeley: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the income from the Crown Estates for the past five years; what proportion of this is allocated to the Royal Family and for what purpose; and what plans they have, if any, to review this allocation.

Baroness Penn: The net revenue surplus from The Crown Estate (TCE) is in the public domain and can be obtained from the TCE annual accounts.Information for the last five years is set out below :2022 – 23, £442.6 million2021 – 22, £312.7 million2020 – 21, £269.3 million2019 – 20, £345 million2018-19, £343.5 million The King surrenders this revenue from The Crown Estate to the government. In exchange, the King receives public funding in line with the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. The Act specifies that the Sovereign receives a grant each financial year. Under the Act, the Grant is currently based on 25% of The Crown Estate's revenue account profit in the year two years prior to the funding year. The Act also requires that the Royal Trustees (the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Keeper of the Privy Purse) periodically review whether the percentage used remains appropriate. The Royal Trustees’ second periodic review of the percentage value used to determine the Sovereign Grant is expected to conclude shortly. This will take account of expected changes to The Crown Estate’s revenues. Any change in the percentage value will then be used in the calculation of the Grant for 2024-25.

Duty Free Allowances

Baroness Altmann: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the successes of duty free on arrival stores in the 65 other countries that have legislated for these; and whether they intend to assess the potential merits of implementing arrivals duty free in the UK.

Baroness Altmann: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost to the UK economy of removing duty-free shopping for passengers arriving in the UK, and for overseas shoppers across the country.

Baroness Penn: Duty-free on arrival would place additional pressure on the public finances to which excise duty makes a significant contribution. Tax generated by the Government helps fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education, and defence. Although there are no plans to introduce a duty-free on arrival scheme, the Government keeps all taxes under review and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy, as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the historic vehicle tax exemption by altering the 40-year rule to 30 years.

Baroness Penn: At Budget 2014 the Government announced that it would introduce a rolling 40-year Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) exemption for classic cars in recognition of their important contribution to UK heritage and culture.The Government has set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from those that are simply older vehicles and there are no current plans to reduce the tax exemption age to 30 years. As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.

Chemicals: Recycling

Lord Randall of Uxbridge: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement byBaroness Penn on 27 April (HLWS735),when they plan to publish the consultation into chemical recycling; and whether they intend to explain why there has been a delay in publishing it.

Baroness Penn: To signal support for the developing chemical recycling sector, at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day, the government announced a consultation on allowing a mass balance approach for calculating recycled content in packaging made from chemically recycled plastic, for the purposes of the Plastic Packaging Tax. The government also confirmed the consultation would be published this year. The government is committed to developing an approach which supports the commercialisation of the UK chemical recycling sector, whilst maintaining the integrity and supporting the objectives of the Plastic Packaging Tax.

Companies: Prices

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking toconsult with industry regulators to investigate firms that are exploiting inflation by increasing prices.

Baroness Penn: On 28 June 2023, the Chancellor of the Exchequer met with regulator Chief Executive Officers to discuss what action they are taking to mitigate the impacts of high inflation and ensure consumers are being treated fairly. The Chancellor of the Exchequer noted that regulators should work at pace to guarantee markets are working properly and that consumers benefit from falling wholesale prices. The regulators agreed to a set of actions to support consumers and will provide regular updates to His Majesty’s Treasury on their progress.

Supply Chains: Northern Ireland

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government what they are doing to prevent Northern Ireland supply chains diverting away from Great Britain as a result of materials for manufacturing having to travel through a ‘red lane’ that requires full customs formalities, checks and paperwork.

Baroness Penn: The Windsor Framework does not require all materials intended for manufacturing to go through the ‘red lane’. Manufacturers, like other businesses, are eligible to move goods through the green lane, subject to conditions around eligibility for the UK Internal Market Scheme.

Companies: Northern Ireland

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made ofthe number of smaller companies in Northern Ireland becoming unviable because of customs formalities, checks and paperwork in the ‘red lane’.

Baroness Penn: The implementation of the green and red lane approach for the movement of goods outlined under the Windsor Framework represents a very significant improvement for traders in Northern Ireland compared to the old Northern Ireland Protocol. In respect of the Windsor Framework specifically, Government will continue to provide the free-to-use Trader Support Service (TSS) for movements into Northern Ireland via both the red lane and the green lane, mitigating any potential administrative impact on smaller companies who will still move some goods via the red lane.

Postal Services: Northern Ireland

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government what they are doing to ensure that parcels being sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are not subject to customs regulations.

Baroness Penn: The Windsor Framework safeguards parcel movements and maintains business as usual for Northern Ireland consumers, removing any need for international customs processes. That means parcels can be sent to friends and family in Northern Ireland, as smoothly as today. People in Northern Ireland ordering from businesses in the rest of the UK will continue to order and receive goods as they do now; and parcels sent between businesses will be able to use the same internal market scheme as applies for freight movements.

National Savings and Investments: Interest Rates

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase interest rates on National Savings & Investments accounts.

Baroness Penn: NS&I’s core purpose is to raise cost effective financing for the Government and must balance the interests of savers, taxpayers and the wider market when setting interest rates. On 30th June, NS&I announced increases to the rates on Direct Saver and Income Bonds to 3.40% and Premium Bonds to 4.00%, the highest rate since 2007.NS&I continues to keep all interest rates under review.

Small Businesses: Tax Avoidance

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by HMRC that small businesses are now responsible for 56 per cent of the UK’s 'tax gap'.

Baroness Penn: There has been a long-term downward trend in the tax gap as a proportion of total theoretical liabilities, reaching a record low of 4.8 per cent in 2021-2022. This is the result of the Government’s action to proactively tackle the tax gap. Small businesses play a vital role in the UK economy and the majority want to meet their obligations and pay their fair share of tax. As one would expect from such a large and diverse population, the small business tax gap derives from a wide range of different forms of non-compliant behaviours, from simple errors at one end of the spectrum to more deliberate behaviours at the other – this range requires a variety of responses to address. HMRC supports the compliant majority who try to get their tax affairs right and performs compliance checks on those who don’t comply with the rules. For those who deliberately evade their obligations, we have at our disposal a significant set of sanctions that can be imposed, from penalties based on the amount of tax not paid, through to criminal prosecutions for the most serious cases. HMRC remains committed to administering the tax system in a simple, customer focussed and efficient way, making it easy to get tax right and hard to bend or break the rules.

Northern Ireland Office

Public Expenditure: Northern Ireland

Lord Rogan: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland will publish in full the initial revenue raising options he has requested by 30 June 2023 from the permanent secretaries of the devolved Northern Ireland departments.

Lord Caine: The Government will treat all advice and information received in a manner consistent with the legal obligations and protections applying to advice given to Ministers. It would be inappropriate to disclose the information, which will be used to support policy development, at this time.It is the Government’s expectation that a returning Executive will consider the same information and use this to make the necessary decisions to put Northern Ireland’s public finances on a sustainable footing. If this does not happen in a timely manner, it is the Government’s intention then to direct a series of public consultations which will give the public and all interested parties an opportunity to consider the range of options being examined and to feed in their views.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Water Companies: Standards

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, given their increasing debts, whatsteps they are taking to ensure UK water companies fulfil their legal duty (1) to provide clean water to customers, and (2) to treat their sewage.

Lord Benyon: Water companies have statutory responsibility under the Water Industry Act 1991, and associated water quality regulations, for sourcing, treating, and transporting water to customers. Water and sewerage companies also have responsibility for removing and treating wastewater before discharging to the environment. The Government has set out our growth ambitions for the water sector in our Strategic Policy Statement and Integrated Plan for Water, and in August last year we launched the storm overflows plan which will secure £56 billion capital investment by 2025. Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, protects the interests of consumers by making sure water companies carry out their statutory functions and are financially resilient, as well as holding them to account on performance and the delivery of essential services for customers.

Litter

Earl Russell: To ask His Majesty's Government what financial resources they are allocating to anti-littering campaigns in England.

Lord Benyon: Defra launched the “Keep it, Bin it” anti-litter campaign in 2018 with Keep Britain Tidy to encourage people to dispose of their litter responsibly. Defra spent over £200,000 on scoping, developing and launching the campaign. Since 2019/20, the campaign has been funded by external partners. Keep Britain Tidy have now made the campaign available to local authorities and landowners for local use. In response to COVID-19, Defra spent just under £100,000 on the development and launch of the 'Respect the Outdoors' campaign which included messaging about littering among other issues. We also contributed £30,000 for Keep Britain Tidy's Love Parks campaign, which encouraged people to treat our parks with respect. We have previously provided nearly £1million across 44 councils to help them to purchase new bins, in support of targeted interventions to reduce litter. Across the last two years, our fly-tipping grant scheme has awarded nearly £1.2million to help more than 30 councils tackle the dumping of waste at known hot-spots. We have also used social media to raise awareness of the impact of litter and to encourage individuals to put their rubbish in the bin or to take it home. The cost of these activities cannot be separated. Likewise, spend on Defra staff cannot be disaggregated.

Department for Business and Trade

Business: Environment Protection

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce legislation to hold businesses accountable for their publicised environmental policies.

The Earl of Minto: The Green Finance Strategy (March 2023) set out the Government’s ambition for the UK to become the world's first Net Zero-aligned Financial Centre. We committed to consult on requirements for the UK’s largest companies to disclose their climate transition plans. The International Sustainability Disclosure Standards, being developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board, also include requirements for companies to disclose progress against their transition plans. We will introduce reporting against these standards in the UK, subject to an assessment and endorsement process. These measures will support investors and other stakeholders in holding companies to account for their commitments.

Investment

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the British Business Bank that there has been a 28 per cent drop ininvestment value in the first three months of 2023 compared with the last quarter of 2022.

The Earl of Minto: The value of equity investment grew sharply in late 2020 and throughout 2021, as reported in the British Business Bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker report 2023. It is not surprising that there has been a decline from these unprecedented levels, returning to the values last seen in early 2020. Comparisons of figures from one quarter to the next are unlikely to be meaningful given underlying volatility. The report also notes that “the UK now has a broader, deeper equity finance market that will support its future recovery.”

Home Office

Asylum: Children

Lord Hylton: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to locate unaccompanied children who arrived in the UK since July 2021 who were placed in hotels in Kent and Sussex who have subsequently gone missing.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: Police forces are responsible for locating missing children, in their region, in line with standard processes for any missing child in the UK.We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.If any child including unaccompanied asylum seeking children, goes missing the MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed. The local authority will work with multiple agencies to establish the young person's whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe. Similar protocols within police forces have safely reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

North Sea Oil

Baroness Boycott: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the expected grade of the oil reserves in licensed but undeveloped fields in the North Sea basin; and what estimate they have made of the likelihood of the oil from these fields being used domestically in the UK as opposed to being exported.

Lord Callanan: The grade of oil in most undeveloped discoveries in the UK sector of the North Sea and elsewhere on the UK Continental Shelf would vary from field to field. The decisions around the sale of both crude and finished petroleum products are commercial decisions given the international nature of oil markets.

Offshore Industry: Territorial Waters

Baroness Boycott: To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of oil and gas extracted from UK territorial waters was exported in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.

Lord Callanan: Due to the interconnected nature of gas pipeline infrastructure and the consequent mixing of UK continental shelf (UKCS) production and imports it is not possible to determine what proportion of indigenously produced gas is exported.